Donald Trump’s accusation that President Obama has wiretapped him is so over-the-top that not even his own aides are defending it. But Fox News host Pete Hegseth was on the job for them!
This morning, on Fox & Friends, Hegseth did double duty by visiting the pro-Trump rally held in New York City yesterday and asking leading questions to suggest that the Obama administration are the real collaborators with Russia!
As Heather, at Crooks and Liars pointed out, “There were only about a hundred supporters—with a counter-protest of about fifty—who rallied in New York outside of Trump Tower to show their support.” I noticed that Hegseth never mentioned the numbers nor did the camera ever provide a wide shot that might have shown the crowd size.
Hegseth got a number of supporters to validate Trump’s claim that he’s the victim of a witch hunt with questions such as, “What do you make of all the leaks that are coming out?” Hegseth never asked, for example, what anyone made of all the ties between Trump world and Russia and why Trump world has so consistently misled, muddied or stonewalled questions about them?
Instead, we next saw Hegseth work to ask leading questions that just happened to suggest Obama and Hillary Clinton are at least as guilty (most transcript excerpts via Crooks and Liars):
HEGSETH: Who was it what said “Tell Vladimir that after the election I’ll have more flexibility?”
Fox didn’t even try to hide the fact that it was doing Trump’s handiwork for him. We saw the tweet of Trump asking that question with a prompt to Fox & Friends.
Who was it that secretly said to Russian President, "Tell Vladimir that after the election I'll have more flexibility?" @foxandfriends
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 5, 2017
Hegseth almost surely knows that the Obama administration’s efforts to work with Russia have almost nothing in common with Trump’s business ties to Russia. And not even Hegseth was willing to suggest that Obama may have been involved in Russia’s known attempts to interfere with our election on behalf of Trump.
However, Hegseth was very willing to misleadingly help validate Trump’s baseless claim about being wiretapped, while pretending to “just ask” a question.
HEGSETH: Does it worry you that potentially an Obama administration a month before an election would be authorizing, even if it was legal, wiretaps of Trump Tower?
[...]
So, even if there was an order, or a sense that maybe there was communication with somebody, does it concern you that in the middle of an election you would be listening in on the opposition candidate and potentially using it?
While avoiding showing the crowd size, we did get a good close up of a sign that said, “Investigate Obama’s #Trump Tower Tap!!!”
And then, after working with the Trumpsters to find Obama guilty, Hegseth topped off his con job by trying to acquit Trump. But the supporters were less than categorical in their defense:
Q: Have you seen evidence yet that there is collusion between the Trump campaign and Russians?
A: I haven’t seen anything directly. No.
Q: There’s been a lot of talk about potential collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russians over the course of the election. Have you seen evidence that that’s true also?
A: No, not at all. I mean, there’s evidence that there’s been contacts but we don’t know yet, at least, the public doesn’t about the details of those contacts. So right now you really can’t make a real judgment upon collusion. That is a grand accusation.
A: There’s a lot of accusations. I don’t think there’s a lot of evidence.
So even Fox News can’t get Trump off the hook with Russia.
Back in the studio, Abby Huntsman, with her Republican-red dress hiked up her crossed legs, added, “A lot of passion about this country, really wanting the best for it, at the end of the day.”
But the same could not be said for the three propagandists serving as Fox & Friends cohosts. Huntsman exclaimed, “Remember that moment?” of Obama saying he’d have more flexibility with Russia, and “Let’s play it!
The third cohost, supposedly objective correspondent Ed Henry deceptively said that Trump “hasn’t done anything yet to suggest” he’s in cahoots with Russia.
Watch the propaganda in action below, from the March 5, 2017 Fox & Friends, via Crooks and Liars.
In addition to his bias illustrated here, the other day on “Fox & Friends” he was absolving Pence of any wrongdoing using a private email account while attacking Hillary for hers. His excuse – without any further explanation – was her private email was hosted on a server at her house. Forgetting she wasn’t hacked while Mike was.
So far constipated 5:00 a.m. Trump has kept Faux on their toes. Let’s see how long the cheerful idiots can keep it up.